Waves will be A LOT bigger than this Monday and Tuesday
All the talk in Hawaii right now is on the impending extremely large surf event due to arrive tomorrow. The official forecast is calling for 50 foot faces on the outer reefs tomorrow though Tuesday. Though the forecast is calling for light trade winds to fill in Monday and Tuesday, I think they’re going to be a bit too light for sailing, especially when you factor in that it will probably be a bit onshore and the large surf will thus end up blocking the wind a bit, and with huge surf you get such strong currents with so much water moving that you effectively need more wind that you might normally.
So, the place to be will probably be Jaws. I’ve heard that the pineapple fields on the bluff overlooking Jaws have been closed off. Not sure how true that is since I’ve seen some photos of Jaws yesterday and today floating around the Internet. Regardless, I doubt I’ll try to make it out to Jaws to watch.
With big surf episodes like this, Hana Highway on the north shore usually gets seriously gridlocked as people flock to watch the waves. Beach parks like Hookipa, Baldwin and Kanaha are often closed when big surf events like this correspond with high tides, which they will tomorrow. So, people end up pulling off on the side of the road wherever they can to get a look. My point is, it’s probably going to be a zoo on the north shore the next couple of days. Nevertheless, I’m hoping to get out somewhere to get a look.
Winds the last few days have continued to be light. And , it doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing a serious return of trade winds very soon. One weather model is suggesting we might see some stronger trade winds on Friday, but then going away again after that. This big wave, light wind regime is pretty typical of December in Maui.
